Great Britain’s girls got their Junior Fed Cup campaign off to a perfect start with a three-nil win over China to go top of Group C and will face host nation Mexico when the round robin phase of the competition continues on Wednesday.
The Junior Fed and Davis Cups are the premier team competitions at 16 & U level, the events are taking place in San Luis Portisi, Mexico, this week. More information on the events below.
Heather Watson opened up with a 7-5 6-4 win over Xie Wen, this was followed by a solid win by Tara Moore as she be Yi Zhong 7-5 6-3.
Heather and Tara then teamed up and after loosing out on a close first set, then took the initiative and next two sets to record a 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3 victory over Xi Bai and Xin Wen. Heather commented: “The doubles went really well but the rain delays made it tough. All the delays came in the first set, which made it feel really long. We lost that but managed to win the next two quite comfortably. It’s a really good start for us. It’s good that we set our stall out with a win.”
Ian Bates, the junior Fed Cup captain, can now look forward to facing Mexico after the confident start his team have made, on their win he said: “I’m pretty pleased. A three-nil win was a great start to the round robin stage. Obviously it’s great to get a couple of rubbers under our belt as well as a fantastic win… When we got to the doubles it was already 2-0 so we’d won the tie but it was important to keep the momentum and start with a 3-0 so I’m delighted that they managed to edge the third set."
Great Britain’s boys were held up overnight on Tuesday by rain with their Group D round robin tie against Brazil held tantalizingly at one rubber apiece and one set all in the deciding doubles.
Ashley Hewitt had beaten Tiago Fernandes 6-1 6-7(3) 7-5, to get Great Britain off to a great start but Bazil levelled the tie as George Morgan was beaten in straight sets by Guilherme Clezar 6-1 6-1.
When play resumed on Wednesday, the deciding match became even more competitive with captains Rusedski and Fernando Roese urging their teams on while players and coaches from the rest of the world gathered around to watch the denouement of what had turned into the most compelling match of the round. Clezar and Fernandes eventually held on for a 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 8-6 win over Hewitt and Morgan.